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A truck with a trailer attached pulling into my driveway made me cut him off. “There’s someone here. I’m sorry but I have to go. I still want the pictures, though.”
He groaned. “Tease.”
“Teases don’t put out. Bye!” I hung up and nodded to the man getting out of his truck. “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, I have a special delivery for Avery.” He smiled as Avery appeared next to me. “You’re a lucky kid. I would’ve killed for one of these when I was your age.”
My stomach sank as I made sense of what was on the trailer. I was going to kill whichever man sent the latest gift. I looked at the delivery man and shook my head. “Just back away slowly and it’ll be like this never happened.”
It was too late, though. Avery had already spotted his new gift and was excitedly running towards it. There was no going back. Thirty minutes later, the gift was unloaded, the man was gone, and I was biting my nails as I watched my son.
“Be careful, Avery!” I winced as I watched him speeding down the driveway in his new kid-sized four-wheeler. My heart screeched to a halt when he took a sharp turn and thudded back to a start when he didn’t flip and break his little body. “I’m going to murder them. Who thought a four-wheeler for a child was a good idea?”
“Was that from Sebastian?”
I screamed as a woman spoke from only a few feet away from me. Clutching my already panicked heart, I spun around to face her and nearly screamed again when she rushed towards me with her hands out in front of her.
“I’m so sorry! Oh, my god. I didn’t mean to scare you!” She took my hands in hers and squeezed them. “I’m Jane, Sebastian’s ex-wife. I was in the neighborhood dropping Sam off and I wanted to meet you. Oh, god, I’m ruining this.”
I slowly inched away. “I’ve had a lot of bad experiences with ex-wives this week.”
She shook her head, sending her long blonde braid swinging from side to side. “No, no. I heard about your run-ins with the other exes. Don’t worry. I’m not insane like them. I take meds to level myself out like a normal person.”
Avery sped by us, almost running over Jane’s feet. I shouted his name to get his attention and marched over to him. “No, sir. You’re done for now. You almost ran over someone. Put it in the garage and hang up your helmet for today.”
He pouted. “But, Mom!”
I pointed at the garage. “Now.”
He sped up the driveway and I heard Jane giggle from next to me. When I looked over at her, she waved her hand. “I don’t mean to laugh but that’s the same interaction I had with my eighteen-year-old yesterday. He pouted the same way.”
I smiled back at her, loosening up. “I’m not sure which one of us I’m worried for more.”
“I would say me, but if I tell you why Sebastian will get all pissy.” She pretended to think about it and then rolled her eyes. “He’s always pissy anyway. I love SJ but he is an exact copy of his father. The attitude. The broodiness. God, it never ends.”
“He does brood, doesn’t he?” I laughed along with her, taking an instant liking to her. “I’m Fiona, by the way.”
“I know. Sebastian talks about you all the time.” She saw my face and rushed on. “We’ve known each other since we were kids. He’s still my best friend in some ways. Plus, we work together and during the down times, I force him to talk. Well. I used to have to force him. These days, he’s a regular old chatty Kathy. You’ve got him downright giddy.”
I couldn’t help the wave of unease that went through my body at hearing the stunning woman in front of me was best friends with Sebastian, a man she used to sleep with and a man I was currently sleeping with. I forced that thought aside. “I can only imagine what he says with the way our current predicament is going.”
She glanced down at my stomach and her smile grew even brighter. “I hope they’re his and that this works out. He’s been a wall since that gold digging bitch fucked him over.”
My cheeks burned as I glanced up at the massive house he bought me. “I heard about her…”
“Can I tell you a secret?” She didn’t wait for me to answer. “Sebastian and I share an assistant. She’s the queen of gossip. The day you came to the office? She nearly broke her leg trying to get to the phone to tell me. She mentioned that Sebastian asked her to help him close on the house and a few other things. She tried to get him to buy you something even bigger. That’s how much happier he is around the office now. No one thinks you’re like the last girlfriend. We all love you already.”
I looked down at my feet and glanced up at her through my eyelashes. “I didn’t want to accept it. They all freaked out about where I was living, though.”
“Accept their gifts. Sometimes men like Sebastian show love in whatever way they can and it’s not always normal. I had him back in the day when he was just a typical kid from Texas who loved normally. You have to deal with big deal, mega rich Sebastian. You deserve the gifts. Unlike that other woman. God, she was a nightmare.” Jane stopped to take a breath and hooked her arm through mine. “I’m remarried now. She’s a children’s doctor. When I tell you that you have nothing to worry about with me, I hope you believe me. I want to be friends. Sam told me that she really liked you and even SJ didn’t complain about you, so that’s huge.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You want to be friends with me?”
“Yeah… Is that weird? I’m sorry if it’s weird. Sebastian will kill me if I freak you out and make you pull away from him.”
“No, no. It’s just that the last two exes I met seemed to hate me right away. They were so mean.” I shuddered. “Jake’s ex might be Satan himself.”
“I haven’t met her but I know Ryder’s ex, Sara. Watch out for her. She’s a snake with a pretty smile and she’s not shy about cutting people down. Her reputation in the community is rough but people put up with her because she’s terrifying.” Jane saw my face and winced. “I’ll help protect you from her.”
